Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Days numbered for lion-killing trophy hunters as Obama backs big cats

THE days of lions killed for kicks by wealthy trophy hunters finally look numbered.
Lion 
GETTY
President Obama backs big cats
 
President Barack Obama is giving the big cats more protection in the wake of the notorious slaughter of Cecil the lion.

America is upgrading the legal status of lions that will stop hunters from trying to ship heads, claws and skins back home after a safari at a time when numbers of the iconic animal are plunging.
There are fears the so-called King of the Beasts could vanish from the wild before the end of this century.

Walter Palmer FACEBOOK
Walter Palmer and his hunting friend pictured with Cecil
Conservationists say Americans are responsible for 60 per cent of all lion hunts in Africa, but until now they have not needed a permit to bring home a lion trophy they have killed overseas. The White House's move to strengthen the US Endangered Species Act will not only put two types of lion on a new legal footing but will also ban hunters who have broken wildlife laws in the past from importing trophies..
If we do not act on this crisis now, lions could disappear from the wild in our lifetime
Dr. Philip Muruthi
This will wound hunters such as Cecil's killer Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who shot the black-maned lion with a bow and arrow during the summer. He had pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the US Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear shot outside an authorised hunting zone.

Officially, the Fish and Wildlife Service are cautioning against linking the new orders with Cecil's death, describing the action as a redoubling of efforts to ensure that violators of wildlife laws do not benefit from importing wildlife products.

Key to protecting lions is the way the Obama administration has changed the animals' status under US law so that one subspecies found in western and central parts of Africa and genetically related to the Asiatic lion, numbering as few as 900 individuals, is now classed as endangered. This is the same footing as tigers, giant pandas and rhinos.

A second subspecies with a population as low as 17,000 animals and found in southern and eastern Africa is listed as threatened. In short, this means a permit for importing a trophy or live animal for the endangered lions will only be granted it aids survival.

For threatened lions, the proviso for a permit is that any imports must come from nations with sound conservation and use trophy hunting revenue to sustain lion numbers and deter poaching.
British-based charity LionAid tonight welcomed the US moves. A spokeswoman said: "The listing of African lions by the USFWS is a welcome step forward for lion conservation. For the first time, lion trophy hunting will be assessed as to whether it has a positive impact on the conservation of the species.

Cecil the lionAP
Cecil the lion
 
"Equally, it will not only be information from the lion range states that will be required: verification will be demanded. LionAid believes that these stricter rules imposed on US trophy hunters, who currently are responsible for over 60 per cent of African wild lion hunts, will have a significant positive impact on lion populations which have for far too long been hunted without due care to a species already in catastrophic decline."

The African Wildlife Foundation also applauded Washington's measures. Dr. Philip Muruthi, African Wildlife Foundation's vice president of species protection, said: "This is a welcomed move by the US government and one we hope will give some relief to Africa's lions, which face many threats.

PalmerFACEBOOK
 
Zimbabwe authorities decided not to charge Palmer for the killing "If we do not act on this crisis now, lions could disappear from the wild in our lifetime, and that would have disastrous consequences."
AWF chief executive Dr Patrick Bergin added: "We simply cannot afford additional human-caused mortalities, which is why we are against the sport hunting of lions. "A large percentage of all lion trophies are imported into the US by American hunters. Both the US government and American hunters have a responsibility to ensure sport hunting does not negatively impact wildlife populations in Africa."

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